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MEETING REPORT
Ecology of plant–animal interactions: pollination, seed dispersal and
tritrophic interactions*
Plant–animal and plant–microbial interactions are major topics of current
research both in India and abroad. They
have tremendous direct practical applications in the areas of crop production
and food security, crop protection, forest
management and conservation. Our
knowledge on the fundamental aspects of
bioresources in India is poor, despite
having a huge biodiversity protected in
the three global biodiversity hotspots,
indigenous and local community conserved sites and agro-ecosystems. We
are yet to build comprehensive baseline
data of the efficient pollinators of our
crop plants, including plantation crops,
although we have been cultivating them
for centuries. We jump to topics such
as DNA recombinant technologies and
genetically modified crops, transgenic
crops and so on to produce cultivars of
our requirement that have both socioecological and economic implications.
We forget the fact that a cross-pollinating
bee is equally helping us maintain the
genetic heterogeneity and diversity
within a crop species through the production of quality seeds. If we do not have
baseline information on the biotic interactions in our long-serving crops, one
can imagine the knowledge gap regarding our wild plants. Plants have both suffered and survived from animals and
microbes. At both the ends, insects as a
community play a major role in the survival of plants. They extend essential
services to plants, such as pollination,
defence, seed dispersal, decomposition
and nutrient cycling. At the other end,
insects are the major herbivores and seed
predators in tropical forests.
Recognizing the growing interest in
this area, a comprehensive workshop was
organized at the Central University of
Kerala, Padannakad. It provided a unique
platform for the exchange of scientific
*A report on national-level workshop on
‘Ecology of plant–animal interactions: concepts and practices’ held at Riverside Transit
Campus of the Central University of Kerala,
Padannakad during 20–28 May 2014 and was
supported by the Central University of Kerala
and British Ecological Society, London.
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ideas among active researchers of the
country in the broad field of plant–
animal interactions.
Inaugurating the meeting, K. R.
Shivanna (ATREE, Bengaluru) stressed
the need to generate baseline information
on the natural history of the plant–animal
interactions in our crop and wild plant
species to understand the strength of the
interactions per se and to value their
service in the oriental tropical forest and
agricultural systems. Since it is an interdisciplinary subject, he stressed the importance of collaboration among the
plant biologists, ecologists, entomologists and microbiologists for a desirable
outcome from research on this topic. In a
pollination or tri-trophic interaction
study, an entomologist can solve many
issues in the field itself, he pointed out.
P. A. Sinu (Central University of
Kerala) providing an overview of the
workshop, emphasized the need for a
coordinated research project to study the
pollinator fauna of several plantation and
vegetable crops. Since pollination is a
most dynamic process, data should be
generated at spatial and temporal scales
for effective management of either a crop
or wild plant species. He hoped that a
national-level participation in the workshop itself was sufficient to create a network for monitoring the pollinator fauna
across India.
Shivanna explained the complete
series of sequential events in the pistil
after the pollen is deposited there, which
includes the continuous chemical dialogue between the pollen grain and the
saprophytic tissues in the pistil before
they discharge the male gametes in the
embryo sac for fertilization, in his masterly class on pollen–pistil interaction.
He was concerned about the current postgraduate syllabus used to teach plant science in various universities and colleges
in India that has replaced these basic topics by advanced fields such as biotechnology and genomics. In his second
lecture, Shivanna explained the adaptations of weeds for their success in any
harsh environment; pollination in most of
them does not need a pollinator, dispersal of seeds is through external attach-
ment to animals or by wind and the seeds
are highly dormant.
Shashidhar Viraktamath (University of
Agricultural Sciences, Dharward) and
D. G. Naik (Agharkar Research Institute,
Pune) stressed the significance of bee attractants and repellants as tools to maintain the pollinator fauna in crop plants.
They stressed that 55 out of 160 m ha of
agricultural land has entomophilous
crops and one-third of the food production comes from pollination. Since the
queen mandibular pheromones of seven
Apis species are remarkably similar to
each other, the bee attractants based on
bee pheromone can maintain the bees for
more time on a given crop. Since the beepheromone-based lures are expensive
and to a certain extent prohibitive for
Indian farmers, Naik stressed the need to
integrate it with the plant-based lures. He
said that the leaf extracts of Fagara
budrunga and Swertia densifolia are
good bee attractants. He also gave handson training regarding pheromone extraction from the pheromone glands of Apis
dorsata.
Sinu explained that since the bees constitute the majority of the pollinators, an
understanding of their foraging behaviour and fidelity helps us to take necessary measures at habitat level for
facilitating the right pollinator species in
a given crop system. Citing his research
in Amomum subulatum, Sinu mentioned
that the managed honey bees are not necessarily an efficient pollinator for all
plant species; rather, they can be good
robbers of pollen. Rigorous examination
of stigma after the visitation by a given
‘visitor’ species ceased can determine its
efficiency as a pollinator.
Joysree Cranham and Pratibha Yadav
(Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru)
explained plant–animal interaction as an
example of co-evolution by taking the
cases of fig–fig wasp and ant–ant plant
(Humboldtia sp.) interactions. V. V. Belavadi (University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru) in his lecture on the
pollination system in Eletteria cardamomum in Mudigere area of Karnataka
said that cardamom is pollinated well by
the rock bees among a number of visitor
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 108, NO. 2, 25 JANUARY 2015
NEWS
species and managing honey-bee colonies in the plantations can substantially
increase the productivity of small cardamom.
Rajesh Tandon (Delhi University)
discussed the ecological and evolutionary consequences of nectar robbing and
the mechanism by which plants circumvent and minimize the adverse effects of
nectar robbing on their fitness. He also
gave a hands-on training on the plant–
pollinator network analysis in the R platform.
Plants are able to activate defence
mechanisms against various forms of insect attacks. Insects release various elicitors along with other components that
induce defensive response in plants. The
defence mechanisms could be direct or
indirect. In indirect mechanism the plants
‘call’ for help from other organisms,
such as predators and parasitoids by
releasing some volatiles or other chemicals. Sujatha Deshpande (St Xaviers College, Mumbai) unravelled the chemical
interaction taking place in the tri-trophic
interaction.
Giby Kuriakose (Sacred Heart College,
Cochin) gave an outline on the diversity
of pollination syndromes seen in the
plant kingdom. Taking the case of orchid
pollination system, he explained deception as a pollination mechanism. Solomon Raju (Andhra University) stressed
the relevance of studying the reproductive biology of several endemic plant
species seen in the Eastern Ghats of
India, a forgotten landscape. He explained
the dispersal modes and seed predation
systems in the plants of the Eastern
Ghats.
Lectures were devoted to plant–
microbial interactions also in the workshop. N. M. Sudheep and Jasmine Shah
(Central University of Kerala) emphasized that many insect–plant interactions
are facilitated by the above and belowground endophytic fungi and other microbes. They are growth promoters and
help in the germination of several hard
seeds because of their enzymatic action.
The workshop had several field and
laboratory-oriented practical experiments. Participants were trained in the
basics of bee systematics, the pollination
experiments, pollination efficiency of visitors, pollen–pistil interactions, acetolysis
as a tool to study the pollen structure and
architecture, collection methods of pollinators, dispersal and seed predation
experiments, basics of transgenics, enzymatic action of endophytic symbiotic
fungi and R statistical package.
Participants and resource persons were
given an opportunity to visit and interact
with farmers, particularly the precision
and hitech farmers at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF),
Wayanad. The polyhouse vegetable growers are producing several exotic varieties
of vegetables, but most of them are pollinator-dependent. Currently, the farmers
are practising manual pollination. The interaction with the resource persons gave
a framework for the way forward to
enhance the pollinator fauna in polyhouses through participatory research.
V. Sivan and C. S. Dhanya (MSSRF)
gave a guided tour through the wellplanned botanical garden of the Foundation.
Palatty Allesh Sinu, Centre for Ecology
and Entomology, Department of Animal
Science, Central University of Kerala,
Padannakad 671 314, India.
e-mail: [email protected]
MEETING REPORT
Reconstruction and rehabilitation of disaster-affected landscape of
Kedar valley, Uttarakhand*
A workshop was held recently to get an
overview of the relief and recovery
actions undertaken by the Uttarakhand
Government, to seek feedback from the
affected people on the issues of reconstruction and development, employment,
livelihood and income-generation acti*A report on the two-day regional workshop
on ‘Reconstruction, development and livelihood in disaster-affected areas of Kedar Valley’ held at the Rural Technology Centre,
Triyuginarayan, Rudraprayag District during
29–30 September 2014, jointly organized by
the G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Garhwal Unit,
Srinagar (Garhwal) and the Department of Political Science, H.N.B. Garhwal University,
Srinagar (Garhwal) and sponsored by the
Indian Council of Social Science Research,
New Delhi.
vities, and also to take stock of the ground
realities in the disaster-affected areas of
Kedar Valley, Uttarakhand. The workshop offered a platform for sharing experiences regarding the disaster, lessons
for reconstruction, livelihood improvement and short- and long-term recovery
for sustainable development, disaster
mitigation, preparedness and management system for the future. It brought
together around 180 participants comprising local people from 25 villages,
representatives of the Government (both
State and Central), NGOs and other
stakeholders who had actively participated in relief and recovery efforts in the
state.
The first technical session covered
measures for reconstruction and restoration of disaster-affected areas. R. K.
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 108, NO. 2, 25 JANUARY 2015
Maikhuri (Convener of the workshop),
while welcoming the dignitaries and participants, highlighted the major issues,
concerns and challenges with regard to
reconstruction, development and livelihood of the disaster-affected areas
of Kedar valley. He mentioned that the
region requires high priority for natural
resources management and communitybased action plans. Restoring ecological
balance, undertaking bioengineering
measures for treating the affected and
vulnerable areas should form the basic
strategies, he added. These issues are to
be given serious thought for revival of
traditional customs and agro-ecological
land use, terrain and habitat restoration
through planting of suitable multipurpose
trees, input of science and technology
interventions
in
integrated
rural
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